updated 12:10 pm EST, Fri February 8, 2008

New iPhone 1.1.2 unlock

An iPhone hacker has discovered a new way to unlock Apple's iPhone firmware version 1.1.2 without the need to downgrade to a prior firmware revision and then re-upgrade after unlocking the device. The unlock technique relies on a bug that allows hackers to erase the contents of memory within a range of specific addresses, coupled with a second bug that allows users to copy data before validation occurs.

"The first exploit I found, at around 4 AM last night, was the -0x20000 exploit," wrote George Hotz, the discoverer of the new unlock method. "I finally found a working exploit about 23 hours into my search for the software unlock. The explict addresses 0xA03D0000-0xA03F0000 will always erase."

Another user has posted a tutorial describing the process of jailbreaking and unlocking an iPhone, making use of the newly discovered exploit.

hackers...

...Isn't it time someone remembered the etymology of the word "hacker"? Any programmer may refer to him or herself as a hacker partly as they frequently must employ "hacks" to work around the limitations or otherwise in systems, applications, environments and so forth. Somewhere along the line, the term got hijacked (probably by Hollywood) to infer that it only describes programmers with nefarious intent.